Q.David Bowers
In 1926 Virgil Brand, a wealthy brewer, died in Chicago. Brand, who had begun collecting coins around 1885, was 60 years of age at his death. Eccentric in his habits, Brand succumbed to food poisoning while eating in an unclean restaurant which mostly catered to the indigent. The Numismatist reported:
For years it has been said by other collectors that Brand has everything. Of course, this is a slight exaggeration, because since this was first said of him he has continued to add to his collection. But it was seldom a dealer who could offer him a coin of which he did not own a duplicate. His specialty was the numismatic field-ancient, medieval, and modern. His retiring disposition and dislike for numismatic publicity gives a peculiar interest into the contents of his collection. He took few into his confidence, and perhaps but himself knew just what it contained ...
Mr. Brand was a bachelor and a man of wealth. With him, to desire a coin was to own it if it could be purchased, no matter what its degree of rarity or its price. He was a student of coins as well. For general numismatic knowledge few collectors were better posted. What disposition was made of his collection has not been made public. Some idea of its size may be gleaned from a statement made some time ago by a prominent European dealer, from whom many of Mr. Brand's purchases were made and who was, perhaps, better acquainted with its contents than anyone else. This dealer is reported to have said that he would appraise the collection at two million dollars.
Competing with Brand during the mid-1920s was Col. E. H. R. Green, the playboy millionaire son of eccentric Wall Street financier Hetty Green. Emphasis was on quantity, and Green purchased rarities by the twos, threes, and in the case of the 1913 Liberty head nickels, by the fives. Like Brand, Green was not a central figure in the numismatic field, preferring to collect privately and showing his collection to few outsiders.
Thomas L. Elder, who enjoyed regaling his listeners with interesting stories, told of an immense group of gold dollars which had been sold earlier to a dealer:
One day about two and a half years ago a tall young man with a slightly foreign accent, evidently British, drew a few samples of the coins [gold dollars dated 1849-1889] from his pocket and extended his hand with them in his palm across the counter of a well known New York coin dealer. Said he, "What will you offer for each? There are more of them quite a few more." The price was quickly agreed upon per coin and no limit was placed on the number.
The next day in a spacious well furnished office resembling that used by directors in their meetings, three men sat around the table with two small bags that were open, and 1,700 of the tiny coins were rolled out into view. They were counted into three piles: the fine, the simply good, and the damaged. The deal being completed, the matter was then thought to be ended when, behold, some three months later the same tall British gentleman telephoned the dealer and asked if he would not come downtown since another bag of gold dollars had arrived. Well, in that bag there were not only more than 2,000 gold dollars, but perhaps 20 of them were $3 gold pieces. Here a really remarkable find had been disposed of, and all to one individual in the city of New York ...
In that lot of over 4,000 gold dollars there were almost all dates, not quite all, nor quite all the mintmarks. There were two 1863s, two 1864s, and all the other dates in the 1860s except 1865. The dollar of 1865, therefore, must be rated as one of exceptional rarity-not one in over 4,000! Neither was there an 1875, but all the other dates in the 1870s of the Philadelphia Mint were there, including an Uncirculated 1870 of the San Francisco Mint...
In the first lot were a few of the C and D mints, but not nearly all. There was no 1855, 1859, 1860, nor 1861 of the Dahlonega Mint. There were a considerable number of the San Francisco Mint, such dates as 1856, 1857, 1858, 1859, and 1860. There was only one 1850 of the New Orleans Mint. Strange to say, the larger lot of the two, the one of over 2,000, contained very few rarities ...
Those 4,000 gold dollars were quickly absorbed-taken up so completely that not more than 100 of them remained in the original buyer's hands.
On the subject of gold dollars Elder related that a Mr. Lowe told him that he had gone to the Philadelphia Mint in 1889, the last year of gold dollar coinage, and the mintmaster urged him to take 1,000 brilliant new gold dollars, which had just been struck, for their face value, but the numismatist either did not have the means or the inclination and passed up the opportunity.
On June 26-28, 1929, Thomas L. Elder conducted an auction featuring the Dr. George Alfred Lawrence Collection. Included were many outstanding territorial gold coins, among which were the $10 Baldwin of 1850 which sold for $600; $10 Baldwin 1851 $1,550; $10 Dubosq & Co. 1850 $3,900; $50 Kellogg 1855 $2,150, and other rarities. Henry Chapman paid $7,000 for a rare 1855 Wass, Molitor & Co. $20 issue with large head obverse in the Lawrence sale, thereby establishing an all-time high record for a United States coin sold at auction.
After 1930-A New Era in Numismatics
In 1931 B. Max Mehl announced that he had spent a record $18,500 for a single advertisement in the American Weekly Sunday supplement to sell the Star Rare Coin Encyclopedia. The editor of The Numismatist said, "Again we congratulate you, Max." Soon thereafter, Mehl advertised that he had purchased the collection of Waldo Newcomer, the famous Baltimore numismatist, whose holdings were valued at over $250,000. The Newcomer Collection had many rarities, including an 1804 silver dollar, 1827 quarter, and rare pieces with mintmarks.